The amount of ourselves that we share online is always a difficult balance to achieve. Personally, I believe I’ve over-shared in the past; I’ve published far too much information about myself on the Internet and it would be impossible for me to take it all down. So much so that a simple google search of my name (yes, I’ve done it – don’t pretend you haven’t) reveals far more than I’d like. Betty’s tattoo analogy rings true: what you publish here will be accessible by users of the World Wide Web forever. We should only post things on our social networks if we are completely comfortable with them being accessed by anyone in the world.
I’m certainly not comfortable with my family having complete access to my Facebook page, and I am finding this more and more alarming. I can’t seem to remember that this is an infinite database and this data will be stored forever. I feel as if it’s that time of my life where I start cleaning up my online activity – untagging pictures, deleting old posts and generally trying to hide any potentially detrimental information about my personal life.
I am also well aware I may be exaggerating, but this feels like the beginning of my virtual existential crisis.
